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Topic: Are the new crop of U.S male players a bit crap? (Read 4389 times)

With Agassi not likely to be around for more than a couple of years max, the U.S must start looking for the next Sampras or Agassi- like legends.

The most obvious candidate, Andy Roddick, is struggling for confidence, overshadowed by Federer and is generally not playing as well as he is capable of e.g. compare previous 12 month's form to the U.S hardcourt season 2003 for evidence. But even if he finally gets it together, he is unlikely to win enough slams to go down as a legend, which means that the U.S must look to the following candidates to be the saviour:

Mardy Fish- Sorry to any Mardy fans, but I just don't rate this guy. I don't rate his game and I don't rate his attitude (after losing to Saulnier in one tournament he told the frenchman, 'I'm never going to lose to you again'. Fish's attitude also provoked Agassi into a 'C'mon you f***ing ***hole' at last year's San Jose tournmament. As for his game, he's got a good serve and OK volleys, but pretty mediocre grounstrokes.

James Blake- This guy is all hype and very little talent. He has a pretty decent forehand, but his backhand is lame. This guy gets more coverage for being one of the few african-american players on the tour than for his results. Time for this guy to start justifying the hype. Can you remember this guy ever causing an upset, I mean, ever? At least Fish won that infamous match with Agassi.

Robby Ginepri- Another guy that got more hype than he deserves, and specifically - hype related to his relationship with actress Minnie Driver. I actually think this guy has a reasonable game - powerful serve and forehand, a bit like Roddick , but he has only demonstrated it in flashes so far. A better mental game could see him rise up the rankings, but he went out of the AO without me even noticing.

Brian Vahaly- This guy looked promising at first. What the hell happened to him?

Looking at the bigger picture though, the U.S better hope that someone unexpected comes because I don't see any of these guys becoming multiple major winners. It looks as if the era of Sampras- Agassi - Courier- Chang- Martin will not even come close to being repeated.

The US is indeed hurting. Roddick is good, but he is playing is the shadows of Federer. As long as Fed / Safin and Hewitt are on top of thier game Roddick is going to struggle.

So the pain of it is that the US needs a player who can compete with these 3. Who are the up and comers for the US? Any in the juniors who show mad promise?

Blake has a great attitude but his attitude is more likeable than his game. "Legend" and "Blake" are two words that will not go together with this guy. Even the other guys you mentioned seem to be well behind the pack of the top 4-5 players.

Roddick is good, and he had the best draw possible at the AO. Opposite side fo Fed and Safin. No one worthy is two looks until Hewitt. He came in fresh as can be and still lost in 4 sets to someone who had been on the court waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay long in his previous matches. I personally think he blew the best chance he will have at a slam final this year. I take that back, he will have a good shot at the WImbledon final is he is not on Federer's half of the draw. Even though I though Fed would win this tournament, I sure as hell do not expect him to lose at Wimbledon. Safin will not be a threat there, and no way Hewitt will be a threat, regardless if he won it once already.

I was at this casino minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, "You're gonna have to move, you're blocking a fire exit." As though if there was a fire, I wasn't gonna run. If you're flammible and have legs, you are never blocking a fire exit. - Mitch Hedberg

The US is indeed hurting. Roddick is good, but he is playing is the shadows of Federer. As long as Fed / Safin and Hewitt are on top of thier game Roddick is going to struggle.

So the pain of it is that the US needs a player who can compete with these 3. Who are the up and comers for the US? Any in the juniors who show mad promise?

Blake has a great attitude but his attitude is more likeable than his game. "Legend" and "Blake" are two words that will not go together with this guy. Even the other guys you mentioned seem to be well behind the pack of the top 4-5 players.

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Roddick is good, and he had the best draw possible at the AO. Opposite side fo Fed and Safin. No one worthy is two looks until Hewitt. He came in fresh as can be and still lost in 4 sets to someone who had been on the court waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay long in his previous matches. I personally think he blew the best chance he will have at a slam final this year. I

take that back, he will have a good shot at the WImbledon final is he is not on Federer's half of the draw. Even though I though Fed would win this tournament, I sure as hell do not expect him to lose at Wimbledon. Safin will not be a threat there, and no way Hewitt will be a threat, regardless if he won it once already.

I'd appreciate your comment on the Hewitt Roddick match. With his easy passage to the semis, I fully expected Roddick to play an energetic match. especially as we are told about what good shape he's in. Yet, what happened? In that last set, he was hardly moving. Is it a mental rather than a physical problem with his game?and what do you think of the much talked about bathroom break? Roddick must have known he was holding up play out there. At very best, this seems to me to be poor etiquette, calculated to throw an opponent off his game.

It seems to becoming more regular for players to try to break the rhythm of their opponents by taking a bathroom break. By taking a time out players want thier opposition to think about what they are doing, usually when a player stops and thinks bad things can happen... You see it on the WOMEN's tour a lot, and even on the men's, but not as much.

Roddick was beaten down mentally. He blew a game with 2 double faults and ultimately lost the set because of it. Hewitt usually has his way with Roddick and I think Roddick let that get to him. I was a little disappointed with that last set from Roddick. Remember, the last time they played Hewitt won the last 20 points...

As far as Delic, the guy is basically a Max Mirnyi clone, as far as I can tell. No slam winner there. Donald Young is too young for anyone to predict his success, but being #2 in the jrs. as a 15-year old is pretty impressive.

Roddick will win 4-5 slams, at best, by the time his career is over- I just don't see how he is going to be able to win more than one or two until maybe the end of the decade, since Federer will dominate Wimbledon, a renewed Safin will be a major threat at the AO and US Open, and Roddick has no shot at the French.

As for Fish, he actually has a pretty good game, with pretty good groundies, a good serve, and decent volleys, but being on Brad Gilbert's "Top 5 slowest players in the top 100" (Incidentally, also on that list were Jan-Michael Gambill, Taylor Dent, J Johansson, and Ljubicic)- and having a reputation for a poor work ethic=Permanent 30-50 ranked player.

Blake is done as far as being a threat for even a deep Slam run. He has a good forehand and good movement, but nothing above-average besides that.

As for others, like Ginepri, Dent, and their ilk, they are all just average tour players.

As for Fish, he actually has a pretty good game, with pretty good groundies, a good serve, and decent volleys, but being on Brad Gilbert's "Top 5 slowest players in the top 100" (Incidentally, also on that list were Jan-Michael Gambill, Taylor Dent, J Johansson, and Ljubicic)- and having a reputation for a poor work ethic=Permanent 30-50 ranked player.

Fish has a strange motion on his forehand, I think. His backhand is money, but his forehand is never going to be consistent.

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As for others, like Ginepri, Dent, and their ilk, they are all just average tour players.

Dent's, in theory, got all the tools he needs to be a top 10 player. But, yeah, he's chubs for a tennis player.

As basically the only Mardy Fish fan in the entire world I feel the need to stick up for him. Normally, I would be the first person to rail on Mardy's game, because he never plays up to his potential. But so far this year he has actually impressed me. Now you are probably thinking how getting out of two tournaments in the second round is at all impressive...but the way he played is so not Mardy at all.

Normally he gets down a break, and he gives up. But he didn't. In his match against Gaudio he came back from two breaks to force a tiebreak. He sounds like he is actually playing with some heart, that he has never shown before, and I am excited for him.

I don't think he has ever actually had passion for the game. Even he will tell you tennis isn't his favorite sport. He has always loved golf. His Dad was a tennis coach and forced him into the game, but I think he has finally found his passion for tennis and I think that Todd Martin has really helped him a lot. Plus Mardy and James just made it to the quarters in Dubs at AO so I'm looking forward to his year. But is he the next Agassi or even Martin.....no, probably not.

I really do like Amer Delic though. I have seen him practice at U of I and he is really impressive. I think he can do some good out there. He is definately one to watch out for.

Roddick is a contender. He has ended a year #1 once, same number as Federer, one less than Hewitt, and one more than Safin; he has ended last year #2 ahead of Hewitt and Safin, the year before #1 ahead of all three. He has one slam win, one slam final, three slam semi losses, and two slam quarter losses in that stretch. So if an American isnt dominating totally that is not good enough? I am sorry, American's should be happy they have one young contender near the top. That is good enough.

Kittens- the reason that not having an American dominate is such a big deal is the history of tennis here. Look at the men's tour over history- an American man has been dominant at some point over the past 30 years, from Connors to McEnroe to Sampras/Agassi, and going back to the ages of Bill Tilden. Compared to those times, Roddick (and other Americans') performances are not up to par.